Fertiliser advice and nutrient management plans
Independent advice on making the most of organic and inorganic manures
Your soil is the greatest asset you have on your farm. To ensure its long-term productivity and your overall farm profitability, it must be treated well and carefully managed with a nutrient management plan.
Regularly reviewing your nutrient management plan means you can make the best, most cost-effective use of organic and inorganic manures by targeting applications to where they are needed most.
Our team of Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme (FACTS) qualified consultants can advise for arable, horticulture and grassland systems. We aim to ensure you remain compliant with legislation while maintaining profitable production. We will identify any cost savings and ensure you are getting the best value possible from organic and inorganic fertilisers.
Service lead
Creating a nutrient management plan
Late winter or early spring is the ideal time to prepare a nutrient management plan (NMP) before crops are actively growing. An NMP should be completed every year and updated if your crop management changes.
The process begins with a local FACTS-qualified ADAS consultant visiting the farm and taking soil samples to test current soil pH and nutrient levels. We will calculate the nutrient values of any organic manures being applied. Using data from the soil test results, your cropping programme and manure applications, we will identify if there is a nutrient oversupply or shortfall.
Referencing industry best practice recommendations (RB209), we will breakdown, field by field, how much inorganic fertiliser to apply to maintain profitable production.
Create a NMP plan with ADASCurrent applicable regulations
The farming rules for water aims to get “full value from fertilisers and soil”. Nutrient planning enables you to match fertiliser applications with crop requirements.
Fertiliser planning needs to account for the risks of pollution as well as soil tests results. The legal requirement, under the rules to test your soil on land that is cultivated or receiving applications of fertiliser or manure, is a minimum of every five years.
The rules focus on the storage and application of manure and artificial fertiliser. Keeping livestock away from water courses to prevent soil erosion and diffuse pollution.
Farms in Nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs) need to keep more detailed nutrient application records. Certain agri-environment scheme options may also require nutrient management plans. Our consultants work with PLANET software and the latest version of RB209 to create nutrient management plans that are up to date and compliant.
Our nutrient management planning service can be supported by our soil and organic manure sampling service if required.
A manure management plan is relevant to farmers who generate or import manure. A regularly updated plan will help identify when, where and at what rate to spread farmyard manure, slurry and other organic materials (poultry manure and digestate). It is also used to confirm whether there is enough usable safe spreading area on the farm. The plan will identify and quantify areas where you can and cannot spread and the most appropriate time of year.
Other ways ADAS can help
As well as nutrient management plans we offer include:
- Manure management plans
- Spreading risk maps
- NVZ advice
- Compliance with legislative requirements
- Soil and organic manure sampling
Applied nutrient management research
The ADAS Soils and Nutrients research team comprises scientific experts in crop nutrition. Our field research on macro (e.g., nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur and magnesium) and micronutrient supply has influenced industry-standard fertiliser recommendations (e.g., AHDB Nutrient Management Guide RB209, SRUC Technical Notes, etc.) and software systems (e.g., PLANET, MANNER-NPK, etc.).
Soil research servicesImprove your soil quality
We create a plan that identifies the best nutrients for your requirements, highlights cost savings and enhances your sustainability.
Review your plan